In California, many kids built a model of a Spanish mission, usually in 4th grade. In your state, was there a similar thing students did that was related to something specific to your state?

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  2. We learn about the traditional five C’s that the Arizona economy was built on. Copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate.

  3. We did a mock Land Run in my elementary school where we set up in tents on the playground and claimed different areas with stakes. One of the kids was American Indian so his mom didn’t let him participate for obvious reasons. I’d be shocked if they weren’t pressured to get rid of that tradition at some point.

  5. In my elementary school in Alabama, not a project, but we’d have field trips to nearby historic parks and re-enact escaping via the underground railroad.

  7. We made a diorama of a Native American village. I believe when learning North Carolina history. NC history used to be taught at the 4th grade level but not anymore.

  8. We had to make tools or whatever out of stuff from the woods like native americans did but someone made a bow and arrows and that was frowned upon and nobody ever did that again

  9. My kids did a family history album in high school. Went back as far as they could on both sides. There were pictures and important historical events of the day included as well. All the of my kids are now past 35 and still look at their albums on occasion.

  10. In 4th grade my class pretended to be on the Oregon Trail. We were all given jobs, a certain amount of money, and sort of renacted books we read on the subject

  11. In Texas, we build the Alamo.

    It’s also very common to create a map of the regions/landcapes of Texas – Mountains and Basins, High Plains, Rio Grande Valley etc – out of beans or clay, as well as a map of the rivers.

  12. Lots of Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, and Mark Twain stuff. We also did a couple things about the French settlers and then the American settlers.

  13. Kids in my high school (for reasons unknown) did a year long “medieval project” senior year of high school. This included; making a diorama, making an outfit, making a meal and writing four papers – history, architecture, clothing and food. So glad I skipped that by doing a bridge program.

  14. Wasn’t specific to the state but I remember the big thing every year was an edible land mass competition.

    Each kid (and their parent) would make a model of a geographic feature out of some sort of dessert. Most kids did islands, volcanoes, or swamps. Made out of cake and pudding. I didn’t win but I was a big hit with my iceberg. It was a giant frozen thing if kool-aid floating in a tank of kool-aid. So while everyone was eating, they would come to me because I was the only one who had a drink

  15. 4th grade history in Alabama was dedicated to Alabama history. At the end of the school year, we had to make a scrap book about the state. I remember not understanding or caring about it because I was a dumb kid. The only real memory I have of working on it was being at the city library with my family helping me research various topics, historical figures, and state facts on the Internet because it was the 90s and computers were luxury items and my family couldn’t afford one.

    I actually stumbled upon the thing a while back when I was unpacking some things. It always gives me this weird sense of nostalgia and sadness. It’s a relic of a bygone era of simpler days when my biggest concerns were homework, riding my bike, watching TV, and playing video games. It feels like a lifetime ago.

  16. In 6th grade in central Idaho we all had to go to a multiday camp in the woods and learn outdoorsy stuff and wilderness survival skills.

  17. Virginian here. We made one on the relationship (not that the word relationship can correctly sum that shit up) between the Jamestown Settlement and the Powhatan Natives.

  18. We built models of one of the historic, colonial era buildings in our town. We also did the standard field trips to Plimoth Plantation and Boston.

  19. We raised salmon while learning about their life cycle in 4th grade. I’m not sure how widespread it was though

  21. I remember 2 projects we worked on for Colorado history. The first was gold panning and making a diorama of a stamp mill. I lived in the Front Range right where the CO gold rush began so that makes sense.

    The second was copying all of the information from headstones in the local cemetery. My school used that information to teach us about statistics.

  22. Sixth grade, Construct a building then test whether it can withstand 6+ strength earthquakes.

  25. We had to build a diorama of a “corduroy road”, which was fun. Plus a third grade Wisconsin class that included making butter and ice cream in class.

    In another neighborhood school they would do a building contest to design something that would protect an egg from being broken when thrown off the school roof.

  27. West Virginia

    We had a field trip out to a local state park in 7th grade to work with a forest ranger helping to do a wild life survey in a creek. Did pH testing to make sure that local mines weren’t having issues with run off, looked for small fish, insects, and other signs that might indicate whether or not the creek was starting to recover from the rehabilitation efforts.

    Dunno if it’s state wide, but wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of interactions with park rangers considering how much of the state is national or state parkland.

  28. We mostly did a lot of field trips to the Chesapeake Bay. My favorite was an overnight trip to a camp. Had so much fun there went back for their summer camp 2 years in a row.

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